Monday, January 21, 2013

Friday Nasihah

"You [O Muhammad] guide not whom you like but God guides whom He wills. And He knows best those who receive guidance."

Constant
striving is an essential feature of delivering the Message, as well as
an important element of the Prophetic method. A Prophet is, so to speak,
obsessed with how to perform his duty. With that goal always uppermost,
he considers all circumstances and does everything permitted. As he is
not responsible for the results, he leaves them to God. He knows that he cannot cause anyone to accept the Message, for he is only sent to convey it as effectively as possible.

Many Prophets lived with no one accepting their Message. However, they
did not lose heart, weaken, or resort to such improper means as
violence, terror, or deception even when faced with relentless hardship
and torture. When the Prophet, peace be upon him, was severely
wounded at Uhud, some Companions asked him to invoke God's curse on the
enemy. Instead, he prayed for them, saying: "O God, forgive my people,
because they don't know." He did this while his face was covered with
blood.

The Prophet's household
consisted of several wives and daughters, and had its problems as does
any human household. Under the leadership of the great husband, peace
was the eminent feature of life and strife the exception. It was the
Prophet who said: "The most
perfect in faith among the believers are those who possess the best
morals, and the best among you are those who are kindest to their wives"
(Tirmidhi). This statement is indeed very significant for it gives a
profound criterion through which humanity may measure its elevation or
its failure.

Women are always treated
unjustly during ages of ignorance because of their physical weakness.
Yet the Prophet of Islam gives this human touch and makes the criterion
of good behaviour the way a man treats his wife.

Blindspot!Framework for Life
The only way to live by the Quran is to live life as the Prophet
Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, lived it, for his life
was the Quran in practice. His example is the surest guide to its
meaning and Message. If you want to 'see' the Quran
then look at the Prophet's life.

The best way to understand the Quran and follow its Message is to learn what the Prophet said, spend hours and hours in his company, follow in his footsteps and cast yourself in the mould that he left behind.

The Quran provides the
essential framework for human life. But the Prophet and his Sunna proved
us with the details of that framework. If you desire to know what type
of person the Quran wants you to be and what type of society the Quran
wants you to create, you only need to look at the Prophet's life
history.